In August, a year after a fire destroyed O'Rourke's Diner, the popular Main Street staple sat lifeless with plywood-covered windows and weeds poking through the roof.

But behind the scenes, a flurry of fundraising by those devoted to the diner's comeback gathered donations for the rebuilding effort.

Today, there are visible signs of a rebirth at the fire-ravaged Main Street restaurant, as volunteers do carpentry work and pour concrete on the eve of the rebuilding committee's latest fundraiser.

Larry Marino, co-chairman of the committee, said Thursday that patrons could be eating at the diner at the beginning of next year.

"We'd love to get there by Christmas," Marino said. "By year's end, we should be pretty close."

The Aug. 3, 2006, fire at O'Rourke's started when a hamburger steamer was left on overnight. The fire destroyed the inside of the glass-and-steel, dining-car-style restaurant in the city's North End, where it had served food since 1946.

Owner and chef Brian O'Rourke didn't have fire insurance, so loyal patrons and diner enthusiasts nationwide feared it would be the end of an icon. But since the fire, the diner has received a boost from people throughout the city and state, and from other parts of the nation.

Experts and professionals have volunteered their time and talent for the rebuilding and nearly $200,000 has been raised, Marino said.

"I think this is an unprecedented event because the entire community got behind it," Marino said.

O'Rourke, who has kept his culinary skills sharp since the fire by cooking at local restaurants, said he's been overwhelmed by the help the diner has received.

"An incredible amount of people are standing behind us," O'Rourke said. Though he's enjoyed his guest chef stints - most recently cooking for downtown's It's Only Natural Restaurant - O'Rourke said he's looking forward to going back to the place where he's worked since he was a boy.

"There's this great movie where someone clicks their heels together," O'Rourke said, referring to Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz." "I feel like that. I just want to be home."

The rebuilding committee's latest fundraiser will feature the showing of the movie "Diner" at the Goldsmith Family Cinema at Wesleyan's Center for Film Studies on Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

Originally published online here: http://www.courant.com/news/local/hc-middiner1019.artoct19,0,7256248.story